This invention relates to improved fluid valves, and more particularly to an improved fluid valve for use in fluid systems in which the valve is released after a trigger temperature or pressure is reached and an improved method of replacing valves in pressurized systems utilizing such valves.
Fluid valves are used in a number of systems to control flow. These valves may be actuated by temperature as in a thermostatic valve or by pressure as in a pressure relief valve. By far the most prevalent use of thermostatic valves are in the cooling-systems of internal combustion engines. In these systems, thermostatic valves control the flow of fluid throughout the system in accordance with the temperature of the fluid. In modern automotive engines, the cooling system is not only used to cool the internal combustion engine, but also the transmission, and is used to heat the interior of the automobile.
In such systems, it is difficult, if not impossible, to fill the cooling system after a thermostatic valve has been replaced without incrementally filling the system, operating the system, allowing the system to cool, filling the system again, operating the system, and allowing the system to cool, etc., until the system is completely full, as there is no way to bleed the system and fill the system while the system is under pressure or while the system is being brought to operating temperatures without blowing out steam or hot antifreeze under pressure and endangering personnel and preventing complete filling of the radiator. Until the system is brought to operating temperatures, the thermostatic valve just installed prevents the coolant from freely circulating throughout the system and the air to bleed from the system.
This difficulty with regard to pressurized cooling systems of internal combustion engines has plagued engine repairmen for years.
It is therefore highly desirable to provide an improved fluid valve and an improved method for replacing such valves in fluid systems equipped with such valves.
It is also highly desirable to provide an improved fluid valve and an improved method for replacing such valves in all types of pressurized fluid systems.
It is also highly desirable to provide an improved method by which pressurized cooling systems equipped with thermostatic valves can be repaired by replacing the valves when defective and completely filling the system all in a single, simple and efficient procedure.
It is also highly desirable to provide an improved thermostatic fluid valve which can be installed in such systems and the system filled without the necessity of repeatedly incrementally filling the system as has been necessary in the past.
It is also highly desirable to provide an improved fluid valve for use in controlling the pressure of a fluid system.
It is also highly desirable to provide an improved fluid valve for use in temporarily controlling the pressure or temperature in pressurized fluid systems.
It is finally highly desirable to provide an improved fluid valve and an improved method having all of the above desired features.
Pressure relief fluid valves are also used in other systems, such as in automatic hot water systems, in fire fighting systems, and in automatic transmissions in which pressure may be decreased or fluid flow increased upon the system rising above certain predetermined pressures. These valves function upon the system arriving at a predetermined pressure in the same manner as the above-identified thermostatic valves for vehicular cooling systems function upon the system arriving at a predetermined temperature.